The Unsolved Murder of Rashawn Brazell has become one of the most horrific murder cases in the state of New York

→ Rashawn was a 19-year-old who lived in Bushwick located in Brooklyn, NY. On February 14th, 2005 (aka Valentine’s day.) at approximately At 7:30 that morning, an unknown person rang the apartment building’s buzzer and Rashawn went down to meet him. According to other witnesses, they seen Rashawn with a unknown adult male, outside his Brooklyn, New York apartment and the two men entered the subway together at the Gates Avenue station. Witnesses believe the two exited at the Nostrand Avenue station in Bedford Stuyvesant a short time later. Rashawn was suppose to meet his mother, Desire Brazell, later that day for lunch. He never showed up and couldn’t be reached.

Three-days-later on February 18th, 2005, two transit workers found a bloody trash bag in the tunnel of the Nostrand Avenue station. The bag contained Brazell’s right shoulder, right arm and lower legs. Then Five-days after Rashawn’s dismembered body parts were found, a piece of Brazell’s pelvis was found in a Greenpoint recycling plant.

Police have chased down many possibilities behind the sick murder – from angry gay lovers to a twisted serial killer. “We have chased hundreds of leads across the country and we are not closer today than we were in 2005,”said Lt. John Cornicello, commander of the NYPD’s Brooklyn North homicide squad.

Investigators spent time in Texas sniffing around a duffel bag factory after DNA evidence proved that an empty black bag sitting in the subway tunnel was used to carry the victim’s corpse. “It is very hard to say after all this time that there is nothing new. It is a shame.”

Poster’s have been posted all threw out the City featuring Rashawn’s horrific murder, just about everybody in Bushwick has heard about Rashawn’s murder and they all had one question… Why?

Desire Brazell holding a photo of Rashawn.

Since Rashawn Brazell’s butchered body was found scattered across Brooklyn over seven years ago, his mom has lived with the added burden of fear that the killer will strike again. Or possibly has struck again to someone else, somewhere.“I hope someone can call in and give the information we need to close this case,” said Desire Brazell. “I don’t want any family to go through what I went through.”

When Rashawn’s disappearance and murder first unfolded, media refused to cover his story, which in return caused outrage and responses from bloggers and activists arguing that his murder received very little coverage due to the fact that he was a black gay working-class male. Rashawn’s case has since aired numerous times both Nationally and locally on America’s Most Wanted, with the latest airing in 2008.

After the last airing of AMW, Rashawn’s case started to loose interest. So to keep public-interest, in 2008 the Brazells lead a memorial march in Rashawn Brazell’s honor from his old Bushwick apartment to the Bedford-Stuyvesant subway station where his body parts were found. They hope the walk will stir up public interest in the case leading to that one clue pointing cops towards Rashawn Brazell’s killer.

Rashawn Brazell In Younger Years

Rashawn wasn’t a trouble maker, he played by the law, had a job, hung out with friend’s, graduated, had an apartment and was loved by many people and deserves Justice just like any other murdered human being. His family deserves Justice and the killer is still at-large. Who will he strike next?